Nava Ariel-Sternberg is director of the shared laboratory facilities of the Columbia Nano Initiative, which brings together more than 100 research groups who collaborate on new materials, methods, and procedures to propel the promise of nanotechnology into the world. 

A Columbia-led team has discovered a new method to manipulate the electrical conductivity of this game-changing material, the strongest substance ever, with applications ranging from nano-electronic devices to clean energy.

The award will support the development of new methods that will allow for the manipulation of material systems in real time and the mapping of behavior of these materials with a degree of precision that has not been possible.

The award committee noted that Basov had made "seminal discoveries in quantum material physics through infrared spectroscopy and nano-optics."

Researchers from Columbia University, Shanghai Normal University, and the University of Copenhagen have synthesized the first molecule capable of insulating at the nanometer scale more effectively than a vacuum barrier.